LOS ANGELES (AP) - The county's chief medical officer Friday withdrew his recommendation to eliminate pediatric, obstetric and neonatology wards at the troubled Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center. The hospital has been plagued by severe problems, including patient deaths blamed on poor nursing, lawsuits brought by patients who had medical objects left inside them, and hospital mismanagement that has threatened funding and accreditation. At the August hearing, Dr. Thomas L. Garthwaite, director of the county's Department of Health Services, said his motivation for the cuts was to create a hospital that does "fewer things extremely well." He said only...
